Skytte Prize Laureates

2025

Herbert P. Kitschelt is honored for " having increased knowledge of the functioning of democratic party systems with exquisite theoretical acuity and impressive empirical breadth and depth."

2022

Robert E. Goodin is awarded the prize for an impressive volume of work in which he “with acuity and success endeavored to blend political philosophy with empirical political science to increase the understanding of how decent and dignified societies can be shaped.”

2019

Professor Margaret Levi at Stanford University and University of Washington is awarded the prize for: "having laid the foundations of our understanding of why citizens accept state coercion, by combining theoretical acumen and historical knowledge."

2016

Jon Elster wins the 2016 Johan Skytte Prize for “for incisive, penetrating, and unceasing drive to examine and reexamine that which explains human behavior.”

2013

The 2013 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science is awarded to Robert Axelrod "for profoundly having changed our presumptions about the preconditions for human cooperation.”

2010

Adam Przeworski is awarded the 2010 Johan Skytte Prize for "raising the scientific standards regarding the analysis of the relations between democracy, capitalism and economic development."

2007

The 2007 Johan Skytte Prize was awarded to Theda Skocpol "for her visionary analysis of the significance of the state for revolutions, welfare and political trust, pursued with theoretical depth and empirical evidence."

2004

The 2004 Johan Skytte Prize is won by Jean Blondel "for his outstanding contribution to the professionalisation of European political science, both as a pioneering comparativist and an institution builder."

2001

Brian Barry wins the 2001 Johan Skytte Prize "for his profound contribution to normative political theory performed with passion as well as clarity in the grand tradition from the Enlightenment."

1998

The 1998 Johan Skytte Prize is awarded to Alexander George "for his pathbreaking analysis of statecraft, its possibilities and limits, performed with great sensitivity for the importance of judgement, reasoned argumentation and responsible leadership in foreign policy decision-making."

1995

Robert Dahl wins the 1995 Johan Skytte Prize "for his penetrating analysis of democratic theory, characterized by deep learning and breadth of mind, combined with epochal empirical studies of the actual functioning of representative government."

2024

Habermas is honored for having “constantly reminded us, theoretically and empirically, that the very lifeblood of democracy depends on human capacity and willingness to respect others by means of communicative action and on that basis to engage in critical argumentation and discourse.”

2021

David D. Laitin is awarded the prize for his “original and objective explanation of how politics shapes cultural strategies in heterogeneous societies.”

2018

Jane Mansbridge, Charles F. Adams Professor in Political Leadership and Democratic Values at Harvard University, is awarded the 2018 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science for “having shaped our understanding of democracy in its direct and representative forms, with incisiveness, deep commitment and feminist theoy.”

2015

The 2015 Johan Skytte Prize is awarded to Francis Fukuyama “for breath-taking learnedness, clarity and courage thrown new light over the growth of modern political order.”

2012

Carole Pateman was awarded the 2012 Johan Skytte Prize "for in a thought-provoking way challenging established ideas about participation, sex and equality."

2009

The 2009 Johan Skytte Prize is awarded to Philippe C. Schmitter "for his path-breaking work on the role of corporatism in modern democracies, and for his stimulating and innovative analysis of democratization."

2006

Robert Putman is awarded the 2006 Johan Skytte Prize "for his theory of the social capital."

2003

Hanna Pitkin wins the 2003 Johan Skytte Prize "for her pathbreaking theoretical work, predominantly on the problem of representation."

2000

The 2000 Johan Skytte Prize is awarded to Fritz Scharpf "for having analysed key concepts of political science with theoretical clarity and empirical thoroughness during an era of transnational change."

1997

Arend Lijphart wins the 1997 Johan Skytte Prize "for his theoretically and empirically pathbreaking research on the function of consensus in democratic politics in divided as well as in homogeneous societies."

2023

The prize committee’s citation for awarding the Johan Skytte Prize to Martha Finnemore and Alexander Wendt reads as follows: “For having formulated and empirically demonstrated the fruitfulness of constructivism, thus renewing and deepening the understanding of international politics.”

2020

Peter J. Katzenstein is awarded the prize for: furthering the understanding of how history, culture, and norms shape economies, as well as national and global security policy.

2017

This year’s Prize was awarded to Professor Amartya Sen for his lifelong achievement that “combines insights into human vulnerability with knowledge about the potential of democratic political power to redress and relieve this deprivation.”

2014

David Collier wins the 2014 Johan Skytte Prize "for his contribution to the conceptual development and the re-thinking of qualitative methods in Political Science."

2011

The 2011 Johan Skytte Prize is awarded jointly to Ronald Inglehard and Pippa Norris "for contributing innovative ideas about the relevance and roots of political culture in a global context, transcending previous mainstream approaches of research."

2008

Rein Taagepera won the 2008 Johan Skytte Prize "for his profound analysis of the function of electoral systems in representative democracy."

2005

The 2005 Johan Skytte Prize is awarded to Robert Keohane "for his significant contribution to our understanding of world politics in an era of interdependence, globalisation and terrorism."

2002

The 2002 Johan Skytte Prize is awarded to Sidney Verba "for his penetrating empirical analysis of political participation and its significance for the functioning of democracy."

1999

Elinor Ostrom wins the 1999 Johan Skytte Prize "for her profound, empirical as well as theoretical, analysis of the nature of collective action and rational choice."

1996

The 1996 Johan Skytte Prize is awarded to Juan José Linz "for his global investigation of the fragility of democracy in the face of the authoritarian threat, characterized by methodological versatility and historical and sociological breadth."